Questions & Answers about Wij vergelijken het nieuwe model met het oude product.
Since the lesson is about comparatives, is there a comparative adjective here?
Actually, no! Instead of using a comparative adjective (like zwaarder for heavier), this sentence uses the verb vergelijken (to compare). This verb is very useful when you want to discuss how two things are similar or different.
Why do we say het nieuwe model instead of het nieuw model?
Because model is a het word and we are using the definite article het (the). When a het word is preceded by het, the adjective gets an extra -e. If we used een (a), the adjective would drop the -e and become een nieuw model.
Why doesn't the 'w' in nieuw change to another letter when adding the -e for nieuwe?
Unlike words ending in 'f' or 's' (which often change to 'v' or 'z'), words ending in '-ew' or '-ieuw' just keep the 'w' when you add an -e. So nieuw simply becomes nieuwe.
Do you always use met with vergelijken?
Yes, just like in English where we say 'compare with' or 'compare to', Dutch uses the fixed combination vergelijken met.